Tuesday January 21: Vancouver Canucks 2 - Edmonton Oilers 1
It was a game with less drama than we've seen in awhile, but the boys left Edmonton with two points in their pocket and added a little more fuel to the rage of discontent surrounding the Oilers. Here are your highlights:
Oilers' coach Dallas Eakins was peppered with questions after the game about his team's collective toughness and willingness to stand up for each other.
According to the NHL stat sheet, the Oilers out-hit Vancouver 28-13 on Tuesday. Each team took five penalties and there was a minor dust-up between Kevin Bieksa and Ryan Jones in the first period. But in their first game against Vancouver at home since Zack Kassian broke Sam Gagner's jaw in preseason—and their first time seeing the Canucks since they took such offense at Kassian's alleged mockery of Gagner back in December—the Oilers weren't able to make Kassian pay for his sins.
Even worse for them, Kassian made the most of his one shot on goal—a snipe from the slot that turned into the game-winner.
He was at his chippy, chirpy best—not willing to drop 'em with Luke Gazdic because he didn't need to. He could make Edmonton pay in other ways.
At the modest levels of the Canucks' production over the past couple of weeks, Kass has been the team's most consistent scorer. He has five points in Vancouver's last seven games, three of them goals, which brings his season total to 10—a new career high.
Ryan Kesler made a great pass to set up Kassian's goal, and had lots of jump against Edmonton on Tuesday. He looked determined to do what he could to make up for Henrik's absence, finishing the night with 26:14 of ice time—even beating out all defensemen except Dan Hamhuis, who played 45 seconds more.
The Oilers took a while to get their offense wound up, but outshot Vancouver 29-27 by the end of the game. Roberto Luongo got some help from his posts but stood strong throughout. The Oilers' only goal came when Roberto got trapped outside of his crease and was blocked from getting back into position by Sam Gagner. The Canucks did a solid job of killing the final minutes after Ben Scrivens was pulled for the extra attacker, and Luongo was named first star and awarded the Haida Hat for the night.
After setting a record last Saturday for the fastest fight to start an NHL career, Kellan Lain tied another league mark when he opened the night's scoring with his very first shot on goal. Lain played just 5:23 but scored on the second shift of the game for his fourth line, converting a goalmouth scramble with assists from linemates Weise and Sestito. After Saturday's madness, it's funny to see those three putting up points instead of penalties.
So—Game 1 of the #FreeTorts era is a success. A friend sent me this link if you'd like to publicly represent for our fallen coach. I'm guessing that even if Mike Sullivan runs the group to a six-game win streak, the bossman will still be back behind the bench as scheduled on February 3.
Mike Gillis was in Edmonton last night—and was also at Torts' hearing in New York in Monday. He clarifies a few things about the suspension, including the fact that Torts' punishment is limited to not having contact with the players. Gillis explicitly says that Torts can talk to him, and it sounds like he can also have input with the coaching staff. Here's the video of his interview:
Quick Hits:
Some updates on what little we know about Canucks injuries:
The TSN injury page has Henrik listed as "questionable" for Thursday's game against Nashville. According to Mike Sullivan, he's officially day-to-day.
Nothing official, but I get the feeling its serious + long term. "@wrestlingmark88: when is mike santorelli expected back for canucks"
— Dan Murphy (@sportsnetmurph) January 22, 2014There's a report that Santorelli is getting more opinions on his injury—believed to be a shoulder—and we should know more soon about his timeline.
Ryan Stanton (ankle), Jordan Schroeder (ankle) both practicing with team.
— Jim Jamieson (@JamiesonCanucks) January 20, 2014Both Ryan Stanton and Jordan Schroeder travelled with the team to Edmonton, so they could get back into the lineup soon.
Does Yannick Weber automatically get bumped when Stanton's ready to go? His game has really started to improve in recent outings—he's getting looks on the power play and was a plus-1 in 15 minutes of ice time in Edmonton.
What about Schroeder? Kellan Lain's first real game for the Canucks proved to be solid. In addition to his goal, he had the best face-off percentage of any Vancouver player, going 3-2 in the circle.
Forgot to mention amid chaos of Sat but saw #Canucks D Andrew Alberts in locker room post game, hope bodes well in recovery from head injury
— Kevin Woodley (@KevinisInGoal) January 20, 2014There hasn't been a whisper about Alberts since he was concussed by Brian McGrattan on his first shift against Calgary back on December 28. Nice to hear he was with the team on Saturday.